--- title: The 'Fat Bear Week' Competition Is Upon Us At Last description: Katmai National Park & Preserve wants us to weigh in on which bears are fattest before they go into hibernation for the winter. canonical: https://time.com/5415988/fat-bear-week/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-10-04T20:20:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:55:17.037Z og:title: The 'Fat Bear Week' Competition Is Upon Us At Last og:description: 'Fat Bear Week' pits well-nourished bears against each other for internet fame og:url: https://time.com/5415988/fat-bear-week/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 'Fat Bear Week' Competition Is Upon Us At Last twitter:description: 'Fat Bear Week' pits well-nourished bears against each other for internet fame twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The 'Fat Bear Week' Competition Is Upon Us At Last So Make Your Vote Count > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=fc6baaf4-c5e1-4a59-a56c-b9ce7757d635&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 4, 2018 8:20 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 4, 2018 8:20 PM UTC Fall has many charms: colorful changing leaves. [Pumpkin spice](http://time.com/5379041/pumpkin-spice-latte-release-date-2018/) lattes. Cozy sweaters. And Fat Bear Week, a competition hosted by Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska to determine just which of its many [brown bears](http://time.com/5040754/yeti-bear-study/) has been most successful at plumping up and gorging on salmon over the summer in preparation for five months of winter hibernation — and, of course, will win the important title of “Fattest Bear.” Each day on the Katmai Facebook page, bears are matched [in an extensive bracket](https://www.facebook.com/KatmaiNPP/photos/pb.146794702012003.-2207520000.1538660052./2117960131562107/?type=3&theater). The bear with the most likes advances to the next round. Only one bear, by Oct. 9, will be crowned “Fattest Bear” for 2018; this is the fourth annual running of this competition. While Katmai is home to [thousands of bears](https://www.nps.gov/katm/planyourvisit/bear-watching.htm), only 12 get to be part of the Fat Bear Week bracket — because they’re known for loving the attention. Well, sort of: they appear most regularly on a livestream that the park hosts, which means that viewers from around the world are already familiar with some of these creatures, their personalities and (eating) habits. So far, 409 Beadnose and 854 Divot bested their respective competitors (151 Walker and 503) and will move on to remain in the competition. When it comes to voting, beauty (and size) is really in the eye of the beholder. Park ranger Andrew LaValle says it’s up to the public to choose their criteria for selecting the plumpest. “Does that mean clearance with the ground? Number of rolls? Neck flab? It’s up to you!” [he told _The Guardian_.](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/04/fat-bear-week-alaskas-brown-bears-face-off-in-battle-of-the-plumpest) This is a salmon-fueled beauty pageant based on real, well, substance — and we can all be on board. Check out some of the dramatic bear transformations in the park’s tweets below. > [](https://twitter.com/KatmaiNPS/status/1046819811857117184) > [](https://twitter.com/KatmaiNPS/status/1047886414522642433) > [](https://twitter.com/KatmaiNPS/status/1047875063700045824) > [](https://twitter.com/KatmaiNPS/status/1047607781807730689) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5415988/fat-bear-week/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5415988/fat-bear-week/"},"headline":"The 'Fat Bear Week' Competition Is Upon Us At Last So Make Your Vote Count","datePublished":"2018-10-04T20:20:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:55:17.037Z","description":"Beauty — and size — is in the eye of the beholder","url":"https://time.com/5415988/fat-bear-week/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5415988/fat-bear-week/","name":"The 'Fat Bear Week' Competition Is Upon Us At Last So Make Your Vote Count"}}]}] ```